{"id":"AIBD-0606","title":"Mayo Clinic: Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio's DNN noise reduction raises bimodal cochlear implant users' sentence scores in babble from 60% to 79%","summary":"At Mayo Clinic, 11 bimodal cochlear implant users scored 79% on sentences in babble with the Phonak Sphere Infinio DNN program, against 60% with a program without noise reduction.","date_observed":"2025-06-01","date_basis":"event","date_precision":"day","benefit_status":"reported","source_collection":null,"source_entry":null,"account":"Audiologists Courtney Kolberg, Sarah Holbert and Jamie Bogle of Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Aniket Saoji of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, reviewed the charts of 11 patients aged 71 to 89 who use a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other. During a standard clinical visit, each patient was fitted with a Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio 90 hearing aid with two programs: Calm Situation, which applied no noise reduction, and Spheric Speech in Loud Noise, which uses deep neural network (DNN) noise reduction. In multi-talker babble, mostly at a signal-to-noise ratio of 5 dB, bimodal sentence scores on the AzBio test reached 79% with the DNN program against 60% with the Calm Situation program (p < 0.001). Against the implant alone in babble, the DNN program gave a 40% bimodal benefit against 21% for the Calm Situation program. Testing took place between 6 May and 1 June 2025, and the Journal of Clinical Medicine published the study on 27 July 2025. The sample is small, speech and babble came from the same loudspeaker in front of the patient, and the comparison program used no noise reduction at all. Mayo Clinic funded the work internally, and Saoji disclosed ties to Advanced Bionics, Cochlear and Envoy Medical. In a December 2024 study of the same program, which five Sonova employees co-wrote, Saoji disclosed that he was a consultant for or had research support from Sonova AG, the maker of the hearing aid.","category":"general benefit","unexpected":false,"purpose":"The DNN program was built to separate speech from noise for hearing aid users. The better speech understanding in noise that the study measured was that purpose, applied here to people who also wear a cochlear implant.","system":"Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio 90 hearing aid with DNN-based noise reduction (Spheric Speech in Loud Noise program)","model_version":"Audéo Sphere Infinio 90","developer":"Sonova AG (Phonak brand), Stäfa","deployer":"Mayo Clinic audiology clinics (Scottsdale, Arizona, and Rochester, Minnesota)","location":"Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona, and Rochester, Minnesota, United States","domain":"Healthcare","segment":null,"benefit_type":"Improved Accessibility","taxonomy_note":null,"registry_ids":{},"ratings":[{"group":"personal","depth":2,"reason":"Sentence recognition in babble rose from 60% to 79% with the DNN program."}],"ai_role":{"status":"assessed","statement":"Each patient was tested with the same hearing aid with and without the DNN program, so the comparison isolates the DNN; the comparison program had no noise reduction."},"evidence":[{"kind":"peer-reviewed study","citation":"Kolberg C, Holbert SO, Bogle JM, Saoji AA. 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